Florian Waldow

Florian Waldow serves as Professor of Comparative and International Education at Humboldt University of Berlin and leads the Research Unit Temporality within the Berlin Graduate School for Global and Transregional Studies (BGTS), operating under the Cluster of Excellence SCRIPTS (Contestations of the Liberal Script). His academic profile centers on critical analyses of global educational governance, policy borrowing mechanisms, and historical-comparative studies of school systems across Germany, Sweden, and England, with particular expertise in the political utilization of international assessments like PISA.

Waldow's research interrogates the interplay between transnational policy frameworks and national educational contexts, focusing on how concepts such as meritocracy, marketization, and legitimacy are negotiated within domestic policy discourses. His work reveals how countries instrumentalize international assessment data through projection mechanisms—constructing idealized or negative images of foreign education systems to advance domestic agendas—while simultaneously examining historical antecedents of contemporary reforms. Methodologically, he combines archival research with comparative policy analysis to trace the evolution of assessment practices and organizational structures across the 19th-21st centuries.

Analysis of his recent publications (2017-2025) demonstrates consistent engagement with the political economy of educational knowledge, highlighting three dominant trends: the strategic deployment of PISA results for policy legitimization, the tension between meritocratic ideals and entrenched privilege in elite schooling, and the historical continuity of policy borrowing practices. His scholarship critically examines how media representations shape public understanding of educational 'success' and 'crisis,' particularly through German media narratives about Asian and Scandinavian systems, while challenging assumptions about linear progress in educational standardization.

As Principal Investigator for SCRIPTS' Research Unit Temporality, Waldow directs a major DFG-funded initiative investigating how historical narratives influence contemporary contestations of liberal educational norms. His leadership role indicates significant involvement in securing and managing large-scale research funding, though specific grant details remain unspecified. While his faculty position implies doctoral supervision within BGTS, no advisee names appear in available records, suggesting either unpublicized mentorship activities or primary focus on research leadership over direct student advising.

Waldow operates at the intersection of multiple research ecosystems: as core faculty in the Department of Education Studies, he contributes to Humboldt University's teacher education programs; through BGTS, he participates in interdisciplinary doctoral training; and within SCRIPTS, he collaborates with scholars across law, political science, and area studies. His international networks are evidenced by comparative projects involving German, Swedish, and English institutions, particularly in studies of assessment justice and policy transfer. Current work emphasizes temporal dimensions of educational contestations, positioning historical analysis as essential for understanding contemporary challenges to liberal educational frameworks.